With the "extreme heat wave," air conditioner use has increased, and power demand has risen faster than expected, reports said on the 9th.
According to the Korea Power Exchange's Power Statistics Information System on the 9th, the peak load on the 7th was 95.321 gigawatts (GW). That is the highest level this summer. It is also the fifth-largest on record, after Aug. 20, 2024 (97.115 GW), Aug. 25, 2025 (95.951 GW), July 8, 2025 (95.675 GW), and Aug. 19, 2024 (95.611 GW).
Initially, power authorities expected this summer's demand to peak in the third week of August at 94.1–98.8 GW. But it already entered that range in the first week of this month. Total demand including Korea Electric Power Corporation PPA, which is mostly solar, and small self-generation solar power is estimated to have reached 104.2 GW between 2 and 3 p.m. in July.
From next week, when summer vacations end, industrial operating rates are set to rise and power demand is also expected to increase. In this regard, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment raised this summer's power supply to 107 GW, up 2 GW from a year earlier. It is also known to have additionally prepared 8.8 GW of reserve resources to ensure a smooth power supply.